Tournaments

After you have completed some of the basics at the Tennis Academy and some mini games, it's time to enter in the first tournaments. You start the game from the 300 position in the ATP chart and you have 20 years at your disposal in order to become number one. Like in real life, tournaments will take place in Spain, China, France, England, USA, Australia, Germany, Italy, every location featuring its own ground surface: slag, red or green clay (used in France Open, and US), cement or coated asphalt (used at the Australian Open and US Open), and grass (used at Wimbledon).

Every tournament will feature also double matches where you can choose a fellow member to complete them. Virtua Tennis gives you the opportunity to play with or against 20 real-life players. The problem is that you will be playing the same handful of real-life players over and over again. As an example you will play in the beginning of you career with Roger Federer and you can beat him very easily. But as you progress into the game, the next match with Federer will be much more difficult than the first one.

Mechanics

Virtua Tennis was and still is a fast-paced arcade game, but the mechanics that stays behind the control makes this game so addictive. Besides the direction buttons, you have also three shot buttons: top spin, slice, lob. Depending on your location on the court, these shots can vary from drop shot, volley, slam, etc. Also depending on how earlier you get into position to hit the ball and press the shot button, the shot will be less or more harder. The direction of the serve or shot can be changed by pressing any of the direction keys as you hit the ball. If you want to progress further into the career you need to approach a more tactical gameplay based on your skills but also on your opponent's real-life skills. There are players who will play using short slices making you play closely to the net or others will use long and hard shots to make you run from one court corner to the other.

As you achieve position 100, the players will play more and more tactical. In order to remain at the top you have to complete higher levels of mini-games to make your custom character increase his abilities. In the end you have to create an overall powerful character, not to concentrate only on specific attributes. The camera has two perspectives (a far and a closer one). I preferred playing with the far perspective, because it covers a wider are of the court, making you guess the next shot much easier. Although I had some problems in guessing the more slower shots. The game features also an instant replay function, which is automatically and uses the same camera angles over an over again. There is no control on the replay function and that's a pity.

Sega tried to recreate the most dynamic environment for tennis: the players are sliding a bit when they change directions, the ball leaves a mark when it hits the court, the players have realistic gestures while watching the instant replay. Like in real-life, every player has its own characteristics. For example Martina Hingis is a tactical player, while Nicole Vaidisova is a strong forehand. And these characteristics are extremely obvious while you play against any of the players.